This is the shocking moment workers were left hanging from a skyscraper after being caught in high winds.

The footage was recorded outside the Chinese Central Television (CCTV) headquarters building in Beijing where a group of men hanging from ropes had been cleaning the windows of the 51-storey building around 3 pm on May 30.

According to eyewitnesses, when the men had started the job the weather had been clear but dark clouds started to form a short while later and were quickly followed by strong winds.

More than a dozen men who had been cleaning the windows on the facade of the building were left hanging from ropes and swinging in the sky buffeted by the strong winds.

The BBC's China correspondent Stephen McDonell said: 'Think yourself lucky you're not a window cleaner on Beijing's CCTV tower.

'Here they were dangling on ropes swinging through the air this afternoon after a flash storm hit.'

The CCTV Headquarters building stands at 768ft tall, slightly shorter than the Canary Wharf Tower in London, making it one of Beijing's tallest skyscrapers.